Mr. Composure : Ex-Harbor Star Mark Hill’s Game Matures at Cal State Fullerton

All Stacey Augmon wanted was a little bit of friendly conversation.

After all, if Augmon, a former Olympian and Nevada-Las Vegas’ star forward, and Cal State Fullerton guard Mark Hill were going to share the floor of the Thomas and Mack Center for 40 minutes Monday night, they might as well be sociable. Right?

So Augmon talked. And talked. And talked. According to Hill, the dialogue went something like this:

Augmon: “In your face! In your face! In your face! You guys can’t buy a win.”

Hill: Silence.

Augmon: “What a brick. Get a team, why don’t you?”

Hill: Silence.

And so it went, up and down the floor of the Thomas and Mack--an arena generally known as the place where the teams of the Big West Conference go to die. Augmon was aiming his up-close-and-personal court banter at Hill’s concentration, and he was using all the weapons at his disposal--especially UNLV’s No. 10 national ranking and Fullerton’s then-winless conference record.

Augmon was talking, but Hill wasn’t listening.

In the past, Augmon’s chatter might have rattled Hill, who readily admits that at Harbor College--where he was a two-time first-team All-Southern California Athletic Conference selection--his temper often used to get the best of him.

But not Monday night. Hill was determined to show Augmon and the Runnin’ Rebels that he’d turned over a new leaf. Augmon was running into the new and improved, level-headed Mark Hill.

“Augmon was trying to get into a street-talking match,” Hill said. “But I don’t do that anymore. I just told him, ‘Jeez, play ball!’ Basketball isn’t about all that talk.”

Hill proved his point, even though Fullerton lost the game, 66-63, on a shot at the buzzer by UNLV’s Greg Anthony. Hill bombed away from the outside and scored 19 points that night. His teammate, forward Cedric Ceballos, scored 31. Augmon, who was guarding Ceballos, was held to 14.

Fullerton fans would be surprised to learn that Hill, a smooth and serious junior, had ever had a problem with his composure on the court. Especially now that Hill, who is averaging 15.3 points per game, has emerged as the Titans’ most consistent all-around player.

And now it looks as though Hill may be the next in a series of fine backcourt players that Fullerton has produced over the last five years, including Leon Wood, Kevin Henderson and Richard Morton.

Hill stepped into some pretty big shoes when he cracked Fullerton’s lineup as the starting shooting guard. For four years, that slot had belonged to Morton, one of the most popular players in Fullerton history, who graduated after last season and took his 22-point scoring average with him.

Even John Sneed, Fullerton’s first-year coach, had his doubts that Hill would be able to shake off the temperamental reputation he had been branded with at Harbor. But after watching Hill through the Titans’ first 14 games this season, Sneed said he has readjusted his thinking.

“Mark is tougher mentally now,” Sneed said. “He doesn’t get frustrated on the court as much anymore. He used to go in the tank and get upset when things weren’t going his way. Now, he just plays through those things. He’s made great strides in keeping his composure.”

Hill admitted that he had to reach his breaking point once before he could get better.

That point came about last year, midway through the SCAC schedule, in a key game between Harbor and Mt. San Jacinto, both undefeated teams. Hill, who was the SCAC’s scoring leader at 23.3 points per game, had been waging a battle of words all evening long with Mt. San Jacinto swingman Jerry Robinson. About three minutes into the second half, with Harbor ahead, Robinson connected with an elbow underneath Hill’s chin.

“It was a flagrant elbow, so I went after the guy,” Hill said. “I just reacted. I grabbed him with both hands by his throat and just shook him.”

Robinson swung back, but only grazed Hill’s face. It took both benches, the referees, and the police to separate the two players. After a 10-minute delay, Hill was ejected, and with the Seahawks’ most dangerous weapon out of the game, Mt. San Jacinto came from behind for a 85-79 victory.

After the game, Harbor coaches Ken Curry and Jim White were furious. Curry blamed the loss on Hill in the press, where he said Hill had a lot of maturing to do.

“The coaches were really upset at me,” Hill said. “I could see my college career flashing in front of my eyes. So I apologized personally to the police officers that were involved and to the president of the school.”

After that incident, Hill’s self-command improved game by game. He inked Have Poise on the backs of his high-tops so that he could see the words when he was on the bench during timeouts. And he tested his temper on things in everyday life.

“I was trying to keep my cool, just going through the motions on things that happen every day,” Hill said. “It made me a stronger person. It would have to take something really drastic to get me to go off like that again.”

Hill recovered to finish the season as Harbor’s most valuable player, and he was named an honorable mention All-American selection by Blue Ribbon Basketball Magazine. But despite his impressive community college credentials, Sneed didn’t expect Hill to start in his first year at Fullerton.

“We figured Mark would be a good back-up perimeter player,” Sneed said. “But from Oct. 15, he’s become the biggest surprise. He ended up as the starter and he’s been an overacheiver on the Division I level.”

Hill has also prompted many fans to compare him to Morton, the man he replaced. The two players have very different styles--Hill is a better defender than Morton and leaps higher--but, like Morton, Hill is a deluxe three-point shooter. He has already made 31 of 74 shots (42%) from three-point land.

Against New Mexico State, in Fullerton’s Big West opener, Hill tied a school record when he buried six three-pointers (equaling Kerry Boagni, formerly of Serra High, in 1985). Hill finished with 26 points in that game and put a blanket over New Mexico State’s Jeff McCool--last year’s conference three-point leader--who finished with six points.

Hill has scored 19 points in four games this season (Northeastern, St. Mary’s, Long Beach State, and UNLV) and 18 twice (Sonoma State and Portland). He has been held below double figures only twice this season: He had nine points in games against Utah and UC Santa Barbara.

Hill isn’t a streaky shooter, he’s an instinctive one. He blamed his low point total against then-undefeated Santa Barbara on his shot selection. “I was trying to shoot off of one pass, trying to shoot over two or three guys at a time,” Hill explained. “I was playing at a much higher pace than I was aware.”

Sneed agreed that Hill’s shot selection could be improved at times. But the Titans need the 6-foot, 3-inch guard to keep firing away. Said Sneed: “I’d like for him to play a little more patiently. But you don’t want a jump shooter to be looking back over his shoulder every time he takes a shot. So we ask him to pick up the scoring and look for the basket a little more.”

And that’s what Hill has trained himself to do since he was about 15 years old. He has played in the Joe Weakle Crenshaw Pro Summer League, against NBA veterans like Ed Catchings, Wood, and John Williams, and hopes he can shoot his way into their ranks some day.

“I used to shoot every night during the summer,” said Hill, who averaged 12.5 points per game as a senior at Locke High. “After dinner, we’d go behind these apartments that had a light on them, and play one-on-one, and H-O-R-S-E. We’d stay out of trouble that way. We’d stay out there until 11 or 12 at night, just sweating, shooting, talking.”

Hill still considers himself an average shooter. But he says that he’s probably put a little more than average work into his shot.

“It’s not about the way you were born,” Hill said. “It’s more your determination to make your follow-through the same every time you shoot, with the same mechanics.”

So even on a cold night, Hill seems to find a way to shoot out of it. Against Santa Barbara, Hill was scoreless until catching fire late in the second half.

“You can’t freeze the other players out of the offense by being selfish, but if the shot is in the offense, you take it,” Hill said. “If you were cold, you would still shoot that shot. If you’re put into the game to be a shooter, you shoot the ball, even if you put up an air ball.”

Fortunately for Fullerton, Hill’s hot stretches have been more common than his cold ones. He’s been the steadiest force in a Titan offense that features a leading scorer (Ceballos, 20.5 ppg) who has totaled as many points as 34 and as few as two; and an 18-year-old point guard (freshman Wayne Williams) whose play has been either disastrous or brilliant so far.

“We’re a young team,” Hill said. “We’re just trying to feel and find each other. The games we lost we wouldn’t listen and we’d go out and do something different from the game plan. But we’re learning. We’re a family now. Everyone is one.”

The Titans have been on a roller-coaster ride this season. Veteran Coach George McQuarn quit the team three weeks into fall practices, and Sneed took over a group whose ranks were already thinned by attrition.

Then after winning five of their first six games, the Titans stumbled into a seven-game losing streak. After beating visiting San Jose State Thursday night, Fullerton is 6-8 overall and 1-4 in the Big West.

But Hill never had thoughts about quitting after McQuarn left. He knew had only had two years of eligibility left and couldn’t keep transferring anyway.

“I never played for Coach McQuarn and I really wanted to,” Hill said. “But when I commit to something, I keep my word. When I signed my letter of intent to Fullerton, I was committed to being a Titan.”